PM on the tolls January 10, 2007

Instead of telling the rakyat what are in the toll agreements, the Prime Minister has instead threatened to come down hard on the Coalition Against Tolls for bringing to light, the minute details.

Instead of acting on his liberal promises of being transparent and accountabile, the Prime Minister has instead threatened to arrest the president of the Malaysian Trade Union Congress and chair of the Coalition, En. Syed Shahir, and politicians such as Dr. Hatta Ramli (PAS), Tian Chua (PKR) and Ronnie Liu (DAP).

Instead of initiating new discussions with the toll operators, the Prime Minister has instead decided to search and destroy the whistle-blower who had acted in the interest of the public.

No one’s asking for a geographical layout or points of defence ministry installation. Google Earth takes care of this quite nicely.

The following questions have to be asked: Why have toll agreements classified as a matter of ‘national security” in the first place? How many more contracts and agreements are considered ‘state secrets’?

And whose interests do these contracts serve?

NST, 10 Jan 2007

Action can be taken against Parti Keadilan Rakyat for breaching the Official Secrets Act if the “secret” toll concession agreement it purportedly obtained is classified under the Act.

Prime Minister Datuk Seri Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said a check would be made first to verify if the government’s agreement with Lingkaran Trans Kota Sdn Bhd (Litrak), operator of the Damansara-Puchong Highway (LDP), was OSA-classified.

“If it is, we can take action. We can also check on how Keadilan obtained the document,” the prime minister told reporters yesterday after the ground-breaking ceremony for the National Cancer Institute here.

He was asked about Keadilan’s claim that it had obtained a copy of a 1996 concession agreement, which the party was using to organise protests against the Jan 1 toll hike for the LDP.